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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: wind · chest · coach · snap · degree · last · face · rock

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. degree — from a university
  3. face — to point toward
  4. last — final
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. chest — a box
  8. rock — music
  9. wind — moving air
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. rock — a stone
  13. wind — moving air
  14. snap — to click
  15. rock — to move gently
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. last — finally
  18. degree — an amount
  19. face — to confront
  20. last — to go on
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. face — part of the head
  23. chest — of your body
  24. degree — temperature

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com